Postings by Lilliana's Family

Kate, you'll be great out there. Never mind anyone outside the ring, just have a great time with your dog. In AKC as of last Fall you can get back on the teeter (one repeat) if your dog bails, or don't correct it and continue with the course. You can get a Refusal and still quality in Novice, so that may help as well.

They sold tickets on Ticketmaster and at the box office for the 2010 show (different price for Adult/youth/children/Sr). It is fun and probably a little exhausting. Lily competed in the agility invitational in 2010, so my experience is with California's layout. The Meet the Breed booths are an opportunity to learn from exhibitors and breeders alike about their dogs and get a glimpse of the dogs.

The distances between events (conformation, food booths, vendors, agility, parking) can be long. So, wear very comfortable shoes. Food and drinks were expensive. Parking was for a fee. And, I think they had a dock diving demo/event.

It's absolutely worth a visit to peruse the vendor booths, watch the daytime competitions and check out the evening conformation. In agility there are a lot of dogs in each jump height and I'd expect two rings. There was an announcer in one of the agility rings that would talk about the bio of the dog/team running.

My favorite part was watching all the different dog breeds running the same agility course. With only 5 of each breed invited you get a great mix and differing characters. They had bleachers in California and probably will have something similar to view agility in Florida. The breed conformation rings had chairs you could pull up around corded off rings and the group / best in show, etc., events in the main auditorium.

As long as I am able to make the trek cross-country, Lily will be there to compete in agility. Love to meet you. Send me a note if you decide to go.

Starting with a foundation training class is the first place to begin agility classes. It's the most important, because the focus drills and beginning teamwork are learned there (like basic obedience). If you are looking for a club, look on Clean Run website to search for locations near you.

The beginner's book that we give four paws to is: Building Blocks for Performance: Give Your Puppy a Head Start for Competition by Bobbie Anderson and Tracy Libby which can be purchased on clean run.

I haven't heard of it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't exist. Jersey, if you are mixed breed or do not have verification of 3 generations of your pups lineage, then you'll want to register at this link
AKC Canine Partner Registration.
They make it easy and call it mixed breed so you don't have to know what breed(s) you are.

Gigi - thanks! Lily and I are going to the Invitational. We'll see you and Gigi and friends there too. HUGE congrats on 3 dogs getting invited. Well done . We are traveling and visiting family and have escaped the heat for a while.

Yep, it's all truly raw food. Lily likes it all, turkey, chicken, beef and some fish (cooked sardines). Organ meat has always been a favorite. She has more energy and even her eyes seem clearer and more reflective to me. I'm very pleased with the raw diet. She loves it more and is thrilled when it's dinner time.

Koda on the other hand doesn't do any poultry. He'll eat beef and limited selections of the pre-mixed sticks (some had poultry mixed in). He is my finicky eater.

Some ground work and lovely time spent just being a dog (for my pups)! We go on really long hikes, travel to fun places (with water/rivers, mountains), tricks training and look for fun runs if we can find them nearby. I actually get a little trial weary after many months of on-season trials. The dogs seem to enjoy the return to agility even more when there's a little break.

I have enough for a couple boxes of ribbons for Lily, but we get a lot fewer ribbons now that she's moved up in levels. Those quilts look very nice .
Unfortunately, some are getting wrinkled. I'd like to take a picture of them with my pup or use them in some way for display. Again, those quilts look amazing. Mostly though, they are just for me to have something concrete for the accomplishment we earned as a team. The pups get a treat and I get a ribbon .